That’s not good. Maybe a random unit production problem?
I’ve tried to open the case of the Bush unit to investigate my display problem, the 4 screws at the back unscrew easily enough, but there’s something else holding the unit together at front middle that I can’t determine, so not sure how to pull unit apart. A closer inspection might help how to dampen or stop the resonance for you.
If anyone works out how to remove the case PLEASE let me know.
Bound to be a bad batch of Bushes.
Does this happen on 2GB all day, KIIS 106.5 …etc
Haha.
Oddly enough it got much worse when Ray Hadley (2GB) got on his ‘high horse’ when shouting at us the other day. Yes there’s a lot to be said for content in connection with noise sometimes 
I do know that Gray’s OnLine had a small % of return units with the common ‘blank, but backlit’ display problem - the one mine now has. My 320DABC in (partial) use via the UNDOK app until the radio becomes a brick. Wishing I brought a few units now…
Wow, ZIG. Reminds me of Zig and Zag:
You said it was the greatest decade in music. So we’re going back.
Last year, we asked you if the 90s was the greatest decade in music.
You said yes. Overwhelmingly.
So, we’re going back.
This September, Double J is bringing you the best music of the 90s. Celebrating a time when music evolved so rapidly and meant so much to us all.
A decade that produced a seemingly never-ending string of amazing bands, albums and songs, all of which continue to influence new artists to this day.
Sometimes, to appreciate the present, it helps to reflect on the past. When that past is as culturally rich as the 90s was, that becomes an absolute pleasure.
Here’s what’s in store:
From Thursday night through to Monday morning, we’re not leaving the 90s.
That’s right, all 90s jams, all weekend long. Stacks of your favourite songs and plenty of tunes you haven’t heard in years.
Whether you’re looking for a trip down memory lane, or a musical education, you’ll want to be with us all weekend.
We all know what an incredible decade the 90s was for Australian music. In celebration of that, we’ve set ourselves the practically impossible task of selecting the 50 albums that loom largest when thinking about the quality of Australian music through the decade.
We had some help, of course. You let us know the albums you felt strongest about and we made those responses a key part of our decision-making process. It didn’t exactly make it easier, but we’re hoping it has made it better.
We’ll have the full list online with analysis from the entire Double J team, plus we’ll countdown the albums live on air, playing selections from each of the 50 records we’ve selected.
Think of it as a companion piece to this massive countdown from last year…
Sydney is to get the promised extra digital radio repeater, but not Melbourne. From the latest joint venture annual report.
Full report available here:
Thanks for this littlegezzybear. Don’t know why they’ve abandoned the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne. Plenty of population. But maybe site costs would be excessive.
The other interesting thing is to see how much each broadcaster pays for multiplex access. Good thing they’re all co-owners or you could see some of them abandoning DAB+ when money gets tight.
Looking at those access fees, this is what each commercial radio station pays per year in Sydney:
Sky - $97,168
2CH - $97,168
2GB - $97,168
MSR - $97,168
NOVA - $97,168
Smooth - $97,168
WSFM - $121,460
KIIS - $121,460
2SM - $145,752
2Day - $194,336
Triple M - $194,336
SCA and ARN are making good use of the extra they pay for the extra capacity they bought back in 2009. 2SM might as well on sell the extra 64kbps they bought to ARN or Nova as they are wasting their money, I think.
Janet complained of overspill into Geelong or they couldn’t run a model that didn’t predict no overspill into Geelong?
Good point!
They should put it on Murradoc Hill east of Geelong and make it totally directional towards the Peninsula so that there is next to no overspill.
Yet despite how much they want to block Melbourne DAB, they’ve made no progress in applying for a Geelong DAB service.
It is rediculous to stop improving coverage within the licence area to prevent overspill.
I’m sure they will have no problem with the amount of overspill an eventual Geelong transmitter would have into Melbourne, if they ever bother to launch it.
Is it worth putting BAY and KRock on digital? They are not strong stations. They’re not known for handling competition well in Geelong and the recent survey, however rubbery proves it.
I don’t think it’s really ‘worth’ anyone going digital at this point - we’re starting to see unlimited data mobile plans (albeit speed capped, which is fine for audio) and lots of streaming services are unmetered anyway - and especially given it is being deliberately crippled, DAB coverage is worse than any mobile data network, and both worse than FM.
Basically all the new cars with DAB in them also have CarPlay and Android Auto - so you have all the music streaming you want, and in home listening is being rapidly overtaken by smart speakers - why spend money on a DAB capable radio when you can spend it on a Google Home or Amazon Echo - which is likely to have a better quality speaker and far more functionality.
The only real scenario that makes sense for a Geelong DAB rollout is to hope that people buy digital radios, switch them to DAB mode and then have reception problems with the Melbourne stations and settle for Bay/Krock.
The other reason would be to ensure that for people in overlap areas that are on DAB that the stations are in the list along with the Melbourne stations, but then they pretend as if that overlap doesn’t exist.
More generally I think they’ve just missed the opportunity now - it’s taken far too long to get organised and there’s no strong argument for DAB left - it’s hard to sell regional markets on this new exciting technology that has been in capital cities for nearly a decade.
It seems abundantly clear to me that unless there’s a government hand out forthcoming, they don’t want to actually roll it out regionally, and will stall for as long as possible to avoid getting stuck with the bill.
The AM to FM conversion program in regional areas gives the game away - AM to DAB is the most meaningful and clear jump - while FM with RDS has nearly every benefit of DAB except the extra stations, which itself is not a guarantee in regional areas.
If AM transmission is too expensive to maintain, how do you justify paying for running a DAB service that only a small minority of listeners would use and would likely not grow revenue?
I agree wholeheartedly. The spectrum has better uses.
Absolutely and I wouldn’t blame the owners here. They would install additional transmitters with an ongoing maintenance cost, that would then require double the content (assuming a simplistic 2 digital stations = 1 analogue station and a s38 duopoly that’s four stations) - all in an environment of no extra advertisers, which would probably result in further networked content.
From one viewpoint, DAB seems very similar to AM Stereo - a lot of initial noise about it being a fantastic next step, a bungled/slow implementation of both DAB services and devices (in my opinion partly due to the spectrum being restricted to existing players and pretty pisspoor promotion) and the fact that DAB technology has been overtaken by alternative technologies of new players (such as the CarPlay you mention).
My main concern (and probably this should be in the AM to FM conversion thread) is actually the discontinuance of AM (for either DAB or FM), which has different propagation characteristics that I believe is important when radio performs the vital functions it does during emergencies (bushfires etc). I spend a bit of time in the vicinity of Wilsons Prom - 3GG, 7BU and 3LO on AM and ABC Gippsland on FM have the best signals by far. IIRC during Black Saturday, the transmitters for the FM stations on Mt Tassie all went off air due to the bushfires - the AM transmitters as they are located elsewhere are potentially less prone to simultaneous destruction through bushfires (the old adage - don’t put all your eggs in one basket). I s’pose it comes down to how important is radio for emergencies, or is the redundancy now managed sufficiently with emergency warning SMSes (not sure how much co-location happens with FM transmitters).
And FM has better sound quality particularly in comparison to the low bit rate stations, though static and multi pathing can be an issue.
But also you are not subject to the digital cliff.
I agree with many comments here about DAB. It’s been a completely bungled roll-out, similar to AM stereo in some ways. Possibility the only factor in DABs favour over AM stereo is the availability and affordability of receivers and the adoption in cars.
There are many factors at play but I think IMO the biggest problems have been the piss-poor promotion and the exclusion of new players. The two probably go hand in hand to some extent.
New players would have led to better promotion by both the new and incumbent players.
It’s time for ACMA to end the protection racket they are running with regard to this. If they don’t they are actually compromising the longer term viability of the industry as new and competing technologies emerge.
so true. I packed away my sony dab+ clock radio away a few months ago when I realised I never used it anyway when I put an Amazon echo on the bedside table.
I have the Echo Spot (the one with the screen) on my bedside table and an echo dot in my car (using my phone as a hotspot - the dot is usb powered).